1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of personal computers. More particularly, it relates to portable computers such as notebooks and laptop computers having a unique arrangement of two (2) monitor screens made available to enable easy viewing of either the same or different images on the monitor screens, without the users having to sit side by side craning their necks close together facing the same direction but opposite one another.
2. Background Art
First generation personal computers are basically made up of a computer monitor, a central processing unit (CPU) console and a keyboard. This basic configuration of a computer set-up, albeit with some minor modifications, still remains the main set-up and configuration for the desktop computers till today.
Given the technological advancement and capability of the day, the desktop computer was in general, suitable for most office applications. However, as it was big and cumbersome in size, it did not allow for easy transportation. There was a huge demand for smaller size computers which are portable and which would allow users to easily carry the computers for business presentations to clients or to continue their work at home. With significant advancement in wafer technologies, this led to the development of smaller and faster micro-processors. These technological breakthroughs enabled the computer industry to create and design a new breed of computers (known by various names) such as portable computers, laptop computers or notebooks. These computers were designed to be easily transportable from place to place and allowed users to take their work with them. The basic design of the notebook consists of a clamshell-like case that contained a monitor screen on the top side and a keyboard on the bottom side, when the notebook is opened.
The portable computer addressed the transportability problem, but it's small single monitor screen and keyboard design was limiting for some applications especially in the field of sales and marketing. Billions of dollars of sales revenue are generated each year by sales professionals or “road warriors” for their respective companies throughout the world. With the current design of the notebook, the sales professional is often not able to give an effective sales and marketing presentation to his/her client due to the single small monitor screen of the notebook. In some instances, he/she was forced to purchase more than one notebook in order to give a more convincing sales pitch to his/her customer in order to secure the deal. Having to use more than one notebook to give an effective presentation is both cumbersome (as he/she has to carry more than one notebook to make the presentation) and expensive (as more than one notebook must be purchased).
In the field of sales and marketing, the livelihood of sales professionals and the dollar revenue that can be earned by their respective companies are dependant to a large extent on the effectiveness of the sales professional in delivering a high-powered and convincing sales pitch to their clients so that they can win the order from their clients for their respective companies. The current notebook computer available in the market today is inherently limiting as the sales professional's client has to sit side by side in close proximity to the sales professional, facing the same direction, in order to be able to view the presentation materials clearly. This limitation is a function of the current design of the computer notebook, which contains only a small single monitor screen.
The following art describes the present status of portable computers in this field:
a) Ambroe, U.S. Pat. No. D397,998 describes a closable display device design.
b) Batio, U.S. Pat. No. 5,949,643 describes a retrofitting, folding, portable keyboard for a notebook computer consisting of two, pivotally-hinged halves. The two halves are hinged so that they may assume a perfectly flat, horizontal position, or, alternatively, a laterally raised and sloping configuration that provides an enhanced, ergonometric configuration to the user. Each half has its own set of keys and space bar. The keyboard of the invention has its own pointing device that takes over the pointing function of the pointing device of the dedicated keyboard provided with the notebook computer. The portable, folding keyboard of the invention also has a joystick-adapter by which a conventional joystick may be operatively coupled to the notebook computer by which games may be played. Four, bottom, pivotal feet support the keyboard on and/or above the existing keyboard provided with the notebook computer. A carrying case is provided in which the folded-up keyboard may be stored and transported. Also provided is a dual split screen, where each half of the split screen is pivotally mounted for universal rotation.c) Buisson et. al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,988,995 describes a display device including several flat screens. Two sides of a case each form a flat screen display face controlled by the same control system. Under normal operation, the case is held in slides and only the screen disposed on one side is visible and in the emergency mode the case is pulled out of the slides and is pivoted so as to cause the other screen disposed on the other side to appear.d) Chee, U.S. Pat. No. 5,694,141 describes a computer system including a pair of display devices, such as cathode ray tubes (CRT's) or liquid crystal displays (LCD's) for providing a visible display to a user of the computer system. The computer system includes a video display controller (VDC) providing for simultaneous display of different images on the pair of display devices. The VDC includes a display data processing circuit (DDPC) which is variably configurable to provide decoding of data words from a first bit-word format as received from a display first-in-first-out (FIFO) memory to a second bit-word format as required by a particular one of the pair of display devices. The DDPC is variably configurable to allow the pair of display devices to each receive driving signals providing the simultaneous differing images, and which driving signals originate with the bit-words allocated to each particular one of the pair of display devices. Accordingly, the DDPC simultaneously decodes bit-words from the first bit-word format to a pair of second bit-word formats, which second bit-word formats need not be the same, but can differ depending on the type of display device receiving the corresponding driving signals.e) Chee et. al., PCT Publication WO 96/41328 describes a computer system including a dual-panel monochrome or color liquid crystal display (LCD). A dynamic random access memory (DRAM) of the computer including a defined virtual memory array representative of pixel locations of the dual-panel LCD. Pixel values are read from the virtual array of the DRAM and written to corresponding locations of the display by a display pipeline. The writing of pixel values to the display proceeds pixel-by-pixel across a row of pixels in a panel, and then to the next row of pixels until a panel is refreshed. The panels of the array are refreshed one at a time alternating between an upper panel of the display and a lower panel of the display. While one panel is being refreshed, the other panel is blanked. Consequently, the dual-panel display may be driven with a simplied structure of display pipeline and with a reduced time requirement for access to the DRAM.f) Duquette et. al., US Pat. Publication No. 2003/0095373A1 describes a display apparatus comprising a device enclosure supporting a front panel and a monitor housing supporting a first monitor screen. The monitor housing is pivotally engaged with the device enclosure, and enabled for pivotal movement between a closed position wherein the first monitor screen is approximately parallel to front panel, and an open position, placing the first monitor screen at an angle to the front panel. A sliding assembly supports a second monitor screen. The sliding assembly is enabled for sliding movement between a concealed position within the monitor housing and a viewing position lateral to the monitor housing. The sliding assembly is further enabled, when placed in the viewing position, for pivotal movement relative to the monitor assembly for improved viewing, jointly, of the first and the second monitor screens.g) Haneda et. al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,900,848 describes an information processing apparatus having a main body and a lid body configured so that the lid body can be switched between a closed state, a stacked state, a double screen state and an inverted state. Each of the main body and the lid body has a display section for displaying information and an input section composed of a transparent tablet and provided on the display section. As a sensor or the like detects the lid body in one of the four states, a control section of the information processing apparatus controls the display section so that a screen on the display section is appropriate to the detected state of the lid body. The control section also controls the lighting section for lighting the display section appropriately to the detected state of the lid body. This realizes appropriate display in accordance with usages of the information processing apparatus and offers an easy-to-operate and easy-to-use information processing apparatus. Besides, the lighting section is turned on/off according to needs, and therefore it is possible to prevent heat generation and to restrain power consumption.h) Kuno et. al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,467,102 describes a portable display device capable of presenting a document in an easy to read format, in which a simultaneous display of different parts of the document in reasonable sizes can be made, by a simple operation of the device. The display device comprises a document memory for storing documents to be displayed, at least two display screens for displaying the documents stored in the document memory means, and a display control unit for controlling displays of the documents on the display screens to be in a linked mode in which the displays on the display screens are linked together and in a separate mode in which the displays on the display screens are independent from each other.i) Leveridge et. al., U.S. Pat. No. D395,041 describes a computer monitor assembly design.j) Moscovitch, U.S. Pat. No. RE36,978 describes a display system including a base, a pair of electronic displays, and an arm assembly that supports the displays from the base in vertical or horizontal registration. In one implementation, the arm assembly is a single telescopic member that rotates relative to the base and locks in vertical and horizontal orientations, the displays rotate relative to the member between corresponding extreme angular positions in which the operative angular orientation of the displays relative to horizontal is maintained, and the length of the member is adjusted to minimize separation of the displays. In another implementation, the arm assembly has separate arms rotating about vertically spaced axes and linked to minimize the separation of the displays automatically when vertically or horizontally registered. In a simple implementation, the arm assembly is a rigid arm that releasably attaches to the base only in vertical and horizontal orientations, the displays mounted releasably to the arm in pre-defined angular orientations that preserve their operative angular orientation, and one display can be connected to the arm at spaced apart position to adjust separation of the displays.k) Ouchi et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,796,577 describes a notebook computer comprising a keyboard positioned on the upper surface of a computer body, an operating ball, function keys and the like. A cover member fixed to the computer body by a hinge so that it opens and closes against the computer body, is supported in an open position substantially perpendicular to the body. A first display device is formed on the inner surface of the cover member, and a second display device is formed on the outer surface thereof. The operator and the client facing each other with the notebook computer positioned between them could share the same screen information by watching each of the two display devices in front of them.l) Reddy et. al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,215,459 describes a video controller for controlling at least two video displays incorporating a video memory for storing first and second video frames of interleaved pixel data. A video memory controller connected to the video memory sequentially reads data for a first pixel from the first video frame and data for a second pixel from the second video frame. Each pixel data is in turn transferred to a look-up table connected to the video memory controller which converts the first and second pixel data to first and second display data. A selector coupled to the look-up table alternately routes the first display data to one video display and routes the second display data to the other video display.m) Sullivan, U.S. Patent Publication No. 2003/0179541, describes a double screen portable computer containing a left side video screen and a right side video screen, at least one of which is touch or energy sensitive, said screens being connected to one or more CPUs, and said CPUs sharing other peripheral devices and communicating with each other, where the input device is a pen stylus, thus obviating the need for a keyboard.
In very general terms, the prior art teaches the use of dual screen monitors. Ouchi et al. describe a method which enable the operator and the client facing each other with the notebook computer positioned between them to share the same screen information by watching each of the two display devices in front of them. However, both parties need to stoop down to achieve a line of sight that is substantially perpendicular (ca. 90 degrees) to the monitor screens.
The present invention fulfills the needs and allows users to view either the same or different presentation materials easily and effectively on separate monitor screens, whilst seated comfortably opposite one another. Further related advantages of the present invention are as described in the following summary.